“If you want the shields you won’t have to go back.” Silver told them. “I can’t shield your minds, because it would leave me vulnerable to be in a trance-state near you. This cave, however, has enough shielding to rival that on the old Isle of the Gifted. You would be unaffected by the spell if you were to stay here.”
“For how long?” Marten asked, clearly uncomfortable with the idea.
“You’d have to stay for the night of the spell and the two subsequent days.” She informed them.
“That long!” Endis swore under his breath. “I swear there must be an easier way than this.”
“Lena and Acis will serve you while you stay here.” She told them. “I will be gone for most of the time.”
“But won’t you forget Romana?”
She tapped the side of her head and said “I’m tamperproof.”
“How can we get like that?” Marten asked, coming up close to her, peering at her like she was an insect.”
“Do you have a necromancer and several dead souls?” She replied.
“Maybe not then.” He admitted, stepping back.
“Lena is probably cooking breakfast.” Silver began, “I will see you all afterwards.”
“You won’t eat with us?”
“I don’t often eat.” She told them, “And your tracker just disturbed my monthly sleep.”
“He’s sorry, I’m sure.” Marten replied dryly. “Now that he’s wherever he is.”
“In the middle of a pit of snakes with no way out.” Silver informed him.
“Silver!” He scowled. “Let him out.”
“Jeesh! Take a joke already. I left him in a church on the outskirts of Morendor. And he won’t be coming back.” She stirred up the air currents in the passageways, distorting any and all tracks that might have led the six princes and their bloodhound to her door. “Now I’ve got to go. Leave Miria alone, and don’t get on the wrong side of Leigh, she’s having a tantrum.”
“Who the hell are Leigh and Miria?” Endis asked while his brothers wisely remained silent behind him.
“They’ll probably find you. I’ll be back, if not tomorrow then in three days’ time to kick you out.”
Until then, she had to get Romana to the new Isle, where most of the wytches would undoubtedly already be.
She showed them into the kitchen, made sure that they knew her room was out of bounds at all costs, and then ran out into the night, making sure she was hidden by the waterfall before she sat down. The first thing she did was ensured that she and the girl were protected by shields that were maintained by the basest level of their shared unconscious. The second thing she did was a sweep of the area using air, finding no sentient beings outside of the caves. When she was certain that she was alone, she let the catsuit turn back into the short dress, long boots and cape of before and disappeared into the air currents, becoming invisible even as she allowed Romana to take over.
Chapter Twenty-Three
BIRTH RIGHT
The instant Romana came aware she checked her shields, finding them whole and unbroken. Silver had improved them dramatically, and she spent several minutes exploring the new shields that even she couldn’t remove without several hours of hard work.
Then she teleported straight to Kate, remaining invisible even as she carefully avoided being stepped through by another wytch.
“I take it Silver had her fun.” Kate hissed under her breath moving away from the crowd.
“I think she told him about me.” Romana confided. Fearing the truth even as it passed through her lips. “I have the strangest feeling that she’s found a way to foil my plan.”
“Then it is fate that she should do so.” Kate replied. “But I would worry about what will happen when Marten finally gets you back, and he will get you back. I’ve seen it.”
“What have you seen?”
“I saw that he may not be able to forgive you after a while.”
“I don’t need his forgiveness, I just need his mother to stop this nonsense about marriage and kids.”
“And what of your mother?” Kate asked. “Have you even opened that envelope yet?”
“No.” Romana admitted. “I just haven’t had time.” It was a poor excuse, and Kate picked up on it instantly.
“You should open it.” She told her. “The contents of that envelope will be most helpful to you in the coming months.”
“What is it?” Romana asked.
“Come.” Kate retorted, teleporting them both to the lake that was now the resting place of the Isle of the Gifted. When they got there, the single envelope appeared before them. “Become corporal and open it.”
Romana turned back to her normal state before picking up the paper, with shaking hands and burning away the edge with a deft flick of her wrist. Tipping it upside down, the contents fell out into her hand.
It was a small pendant in the shape of a perfect circle, with thirty different coloured stones spiralling inwards from the edge; one swirling with red and white, but never morphing into pink; a sparkling grey; A clean indigo. But in the centre; a single stone of purest blue. She touched the red and white that stood next to the blue and felt the warmth of fire and the fresh clean breeze of air. Moving her finger over to the blue, she touched it to find her finger being lapped at by the smooth waves of the ocean on a calm day. She was feeling the magic of each and every wytch in the Coven, she realised with astonishment.
“What is this?” She asked, her mind boggled by the pendant.
“It’s the medallion of the Coven.” Kate told her. “Around the spiral is a stone containing a barest hint of the magic of each wytch, they’re situated in order, with the most powerful – me – at the centre and you next to me.”
“I can’t be the second most powerful wytch in the Coven.”
“You’re not.” Kate said, moving her hand over the medallion in a sweeping motion murmuring an incomprehensible chant in the language of the Ancients. Instantly the blue one turned blank. “I must leave my place as head of the Coven, as my second, you have no choice but to take over.”
“Why do you need to leave?” Romana asked, “Surely you made a vow to stay with the Coven until death, we all did.”
“I couldn’t make that vow, Romana. I was merely safekeeping the seat for you. It was always known to us that you would be the one to inherit the seat from your mother. I was a steward for you until that time. Now, as an Ancient, I cannot take part in this battle, my people long ago made a vow to watch and never intervene in things with no personal significance to us. I gave you the throne of the Coven, now my part is done. I must go back to observation, and I pass unto you the burden that is your birth right.”
“I have to accept it first.” Romana countered.
“You accepted it when you gave your life to the Coven.” Kate snapped back. “You have no choice but to speak the vow. If you do not then the Isle of Wytches dies with my leaving.”
Romana gaped at the mantle that was about to be set upon her whether she liked it or not. Because the truth was, she had no choice; there was no way that the Isle could end.
Kate kneeled before her on both knees, her head bowed with the medallion held out above her in the direction of Romana.
“I pass unto you, Romana Wytch Queen of Dragons, the burden as Lady of the Isle, queen of all wytchdom. Will you govern and lead our people and the Coven through the difficulties ahead of them?”
Romana, still unbelieving that this was actually happening to her, placed her left hand over the pendant, covering the stones with her palm, and whispered. “I will.”
What happened next was so fast and so perfect that she knew she would remember it for the rest of her life. Her eyes closed of their own accord and she felt the powers of each and every wytch in the Coven snake up her left arm and into the spot above her heart, burning a circle there. They were followed with a torrent of so much power that it humbled her. She felt the magic of what she somehow knew was that of every wytch on this planet follow the
m, branding their way across her heart and the left side of her body.
She pulled away after it was all over, only having to look at Kate to know that the tattoos that she had seen snaking their way across her body now resided on Romana’s. They swirled across her hand all in multi-coloured ink that seemed constantly changing in swirls.
She heard a pop, and each and every other wytch queen arrived in the circle around her, kneeling with their heads bowed. As one they chanted.
“We, the twenty-eight wytch queens of the Coven swear allegiance to Romana, queen of all wytches, wytch queen of dragons, princess of the elven kingdom, grand duchess of the human realms and aide to Prince Marten. We vow to uphold your commands and entrust you with our lives to do with as you see fit. Bind us to our oath, new Lady of the Isle.”
Romana summoned up a measure of calm from somewhere and looked down at them. “I bind you to your words, wytch queens of the Coven.”
Chanting in the language of Ancients began, starting low and almost silent before growing to a crescendo that echoed out to the world, running across the world in words that boomed with magic. When the sound had faded away, everyone rose, and Kate took the pendant she still held, before looping it around Romana’s neck.
The cheers of delight were ecstatic, the other wytches ran up to her and Kate, hugging them both, telling Kate what a wonderful leader she’d been and congratulating Romana on her appointment.
When the majority of the celebrations had died down she used air to teleport all of them directly onto the shores of the Isle of Clouds, where their sisters had assembled to greet them. The members of the covens’ hoods appeared the moment they became corporeal again, but Romana’s stayed down, the Lady of the Isle may be a secret to the rest of the world but to her sisters she was well known.
They bowed low before her, moving to their knees in a single fluid motion that spoke only of grace.
“We, the least powerful of our race, offer you our eternal service, Romana, queen of all wytches, wytch queen of dragons, princess of the elven kingdom, grand duchess of the human realms and aide to Prince Marten. Bind us to our oath new Lady of the Isle.”
“I bind you to your words, my sisters.” She replied.
She felt a movement around her neck, and the shifting of material before a burning sensation occurred directly above her heart. She looked down to find that the medallion had moved, the chain had completely disappeared, while the gold plate melted away burning a hole in her top. Through the hole, she could see thirty perfect gems rising from her skin. The lines of her new tattoos swirled around them in elegant patterns. She looked at Kate, who smiled back, obviously it was meant to happen, whatever it was.
She felt the weight of responsibility settle onto her shoulders. Even Silver, in the back of her mind seemed awed by the amount of power she now wielded. And the woman in black wouldn’t hesitate to use it if she thought that it would further her own ends. That thought caused a shudder to move through her, even as she was descended upon by more women offering her hugs and laughter.
“Do we have the means for a celebratory feast?” Kate asked, her voice booming over the crowd. “I think we should enjoy the first night of Romana’s reign in good old wytching fashion,” she paused for effect before yelling, “with a bottle of wine and some cake!”
There were cheers at that announcement and the other wytches led them over to several large blankets that had already been laden with food and drink.
Kate led her over to a smaller blanket where the two of them sat down as a toast was begun in honour of her.
“The village construction was begun yesterday.” Kate told her. “There is a separate isle that we have already fitted out for the Coven to meet at. Your caves have been recreated almost identically to the ones you had on the old isle but this time there’s a reception area for you at the top of the mountain accessible via a small path. Everything you’ll need will be there. There’s also a small pool that you can use if you ever need advice. As for the medallion, I can assure you that the gems were meant to implant themselves into your chest, and that it is completely normal.”
“Why give me this now?” Romana asked, “Who even is my mother anyway? Why is it my birth right? What species am I? Can I not even get those answers?”
“Romana, I can’t tell you. It is forbidden.” Kate told her sympathetically as she passed over a plate of double chocolate frosted mud cake. “But you can deduce from that that even the Ancients are interested in you, sister. You are special, and perhaps more importantly for the moment, you are powerful. You have seen both the best and worst that life has had to offer, and for that you are wise enough to lead these women, as I was blessed to do.”
“What do I need to know?” Romana asked, her mind still reeling at the possibility of her being of interest to the Ancients.
“There are a number of favours and life oaths owed to the Coven, a list of which is magically updated and waiting for you in your office. There are also a number of first-borns owed to us which will need to be collected upon as they appear on the list. There are many things I need to teach you before I leave though, and we will spend the next few days in a union of minds when I will teach you all of the rituals and spells that will be necessary for the protection of the isle, I will also use that time to teach you how to locate and help other wytches in distress. There are plenty of us out there who are missing and hurting but I fear I neglected my duty to them towards the end of my reign. There are children who need the isle, street kids who live off the products of their gifts, and while they may not be exactly thrilled to see you, they will come to you in the end, all you need to do is tell them that our Isle is open to them.”
“And Katelyn and Averna? How am I supposed to find time for them in all of this?”
“We all have our challenges.” Kate replied. “In time you will learn to find a balance. But for now, our sisters need organisation and direction, which you will need to give them. The healing centre will help reintegrate us with the world that I believe we have learned to leave behind. We need to stay in the world Romana, don’t let us become isolated here, because I fear that could be the worst thing that we could do. We need to become a presence in the world, and you need to lead us into it. Make our new isle more defensible, give it the strength to continue.”
“Where will you go?”
“I must leave to observe these events as they play out.” Kate told her calmly. “I was too involved in the recent attacks; the others of my race have decided I am no longer objective in my care for this world. As they like to remind me, we are not here to take sides in the many wars of this generation.”
“But you’ll be there if I need you.” Romana confirmed.
“Yes, but you won’t need me my sister. You already have everything and everyone you need. Remember, these women are your family, they will support you without fail no matter what the task is.”
“How long are you going to stay?”
“Until the end of tonight.”
“You intend to cast the spell to erase everyone’s memories of me as a wytch queen.”
“Not just as a wytch queen,” Kate replied. “I will erase any memory of you that shows your seal or even part of your face. I will change the memories of anything you ever did to make it seem like you were a low level wytch with some destructive powers. Ash and Icarus will be forgotten as your familiars to all but the dragons, whose memories will be edited differently. You will have made yourself many enemies by taking the two young princes as your own, but you gained allies within the dragon population. Not everyone is as loyal to the dragon queen as they appear.”
The instructions continued throughout the evening, and Kate was still explaining things as the wytches assembled that night to perform one of the largest feats of magic that they could, a world-wide memory alteration.
Once they were all arranged, every single wytch that had the ability to conjure and use a wand, Kate addressed them, outlining the importance of the magic
that they were about to do. They were arranged in a perfect spiral moving outwards wands facing downwards pointing into the floor.
The spell itself was simple, they visualised the things they wanted to erase from the memories of everyone outside of the isle, the amount of power required for it, not so easy.
She watched from the centre of the spiral as her sisters raised their wands as one, and pointed them into the sky and yelled out the words that would accomplish their will. She, as the object around which the spell was based, could take no part in the ritual, and it made her nervous as her sisters sent their energy above them in a glowing golden web that seemed to unfurl above them until it covered the entire sky. Slowly they chanted their will into the world, until they could chant no more and the web began to sink down over the horizon, changing the memories of everyone it touched as it sank slowly, not stopping until it reached the core of the planet, where it would release one final burst of energy, ensuring their will was done.
She felt the final wave rock her, even as the majority of her sisters collapsed to the ground unconscious. The rest groaned at the pain.
She instinctively sent out a wave of healing to them all, even as Kate grabbed her arm and teleported them into a large room she’d never seen before.
It was clearly a cave, but light shone through windows at the top of the domed roof. To one side, water cascaded into a small pond where the crystal, bowl and jug used for initiations were perched next to Bettie. Bookshelves lined the wall, each a polished oak straining under the weight of all the books. On one wall, a large fireplace stood, big enough for a full grown man to stand in, whereas another wall just didn’t seem to exist, it was simply a large oval cut from the rock allowing a large view across the isle, while not letting the cold in.
“Is the isle protected?” She asked, spying the tell-tale traces of the veil which was transparent from the inside while remaining opaque to anyone outside.
“Perfectly.” Kate told her. “Time has run out too fast for us to do the transfer the way that it’s supposed to happen. I need to just give you all the things you need to know.”
Kate's Legacy (Soul Merge Saga Book 2) Page 17
